216 TO LAKE NAIVASHA [ch. ix 



more formidable weapons than those of any dog, and 

 only a very few wholly exceptional dogs of huge size, 

 and great courage and intelligence, can single-handed 

 contend with an old male. But we saw a settler whose 

 three big terriers could themselves kill a full-grown 

 wart-hog boar — an almost unheard - of feat. They 

 backed up one another with equal courage and adroit- 

 ness, their aim being for two to seize the hind-legs ; 

 then the third, watching his chance, would get one 

 fore-leg, when the boar was speedily thrown, and when 

 weakened, killed by bites in his stomach. 



Hitherto we had not obtained a bull hippo, and I 

 made up my mind to devote myself to getting one, 

 as otherwise the group for the Museum would be 

 mcomplete. Save in exceptional cases I do not think 

 hippo-hunting, after the first one has been obtained, a 

 very attractive sport, because usually one has to wait 

 an hour before it is possible to tell whether or not a 

 shot has been successful, and also because, a portion 

 of the head being all that is usually visible, it is 

 exceedingly difficult to say whether the animal seen is 

 a bull or a cow. As the time allowed for a shot is very 

 short, and any hesitation probably insures the animal's 

 escape, this means that two or three hippo may be 

 killed, quite unavoidably, before the right specimen is 

 secured. Still, there may be interesting and exciting- 

 incidents in a hippo hunt. Cuninghame, the two 

 Attenboroughs, and I started early in the launch, 

 towing the big, clumsy row-boat, with as crew three 

 of our porters who could row. We steamed down the 

 lake some fifteen miles to a wide bay, indented by 

 smaller bays, lagoons, and inlets, all fringed by a broad 

 belt of impenetrable papyrus, while the beautiful purple 

 lilies, with their leathery, tough stems and broad surface- 



